§ 428 — Minority and women-owned business enterprise program

§ 428. Minority and women-owned business enterprise program. 1.\nFederal assistance projects. Where a transportation infrastructure\nrenewal project or municipal transportation infrastructure project\ninvolving federal assistance is undertaken to effectuate the provisions\nof this article, applicable federal laws relative to participation of\nminority and women-owned business enterprises shall apply.\n 2. Other transportation infrastructure renewal projects. a. In the\nperformance of transportation infrastructure renewal projects, minority\nand women-owned business enterprises shall be given the opportunity for\nmeaningful participation. The governor shall establish measures and\nprocedures to secure meaningful participation and identify those\ncontracts and items of work for which minority and women-owned business\nenterprises may best bid to actively and affirmatively promote and\nassist their participation in the department's construction and\nprocurement program for transportation infrastructure renewal projects,\nso as to facilitate the award of a fair share of contracts to such\nenterprises; provided, however, that nothing in this article shall be\nconstrued to limit the ability of the governor to assure that qualified\nminority and women-owned business enterprises may participate in the\ntransportation infrastructure renewal program. For purposes hereof,\nminority business enterprise shall mean any business enterprise which is\nat least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly\nowned business, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of which is\nowned by citizens or permanent resident noncitizens who are Black,\nHispanic, Asian or American Indian, and such ownership interest is real,\nsubstantial and continuing; and women-owned business enterprise shall\nmean any business enterprise which is at least fifty-one per centum\nowned by, or in the case of a publicly owned business, at least\nfifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned by citizens or\npermanent resident noncitizens who are women, and such ownership\ninterest is real, substantial and continuing.\n The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to limit the\nability of any minority business enterprise to bid on any contract.\n b. In the implementation of this section, the department shall\nconsider compliance by any contractor with the requirements of any\nfederal, state, or local law concerning minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises, which may effectuate the requirements of this\nsection. If the department determines that by virtue of the imposition\nof the requirements of any such law, in respect to capital project\ncontracts, the provisions thereof duplicate or conflict with such law,\nthe department may waive the applicability of this section to the extent\nof such duplication or conflict.\n c. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require that overall\nstate and federal requirements for participation of minority and\nwomen-owned business enterprises in programs authorized under this\narticle be applied without regard to local circumstances to all projects\nor in all communities.\n 3. In order to implement the requirements and objectives of this\nsection, the governor shall establish procedures to monitor the\ncontractors' compliance with provisions hereof, provide assistance in\nobtaining competing qualified minority and women-owned business\nenterprises to perform contracts proposed to be awarded, and take other\nappropriate measures to improve the access of minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises to these contracts.\n